Watched the end of S4 tonight. Hence, Tennish thoughts.
The Stolen Earth and Journey's End were on BBC3 and the girls started watching, and so, after sorting out various things, did I.
What struck me particularly was how highly strung Ten is. Not just because of the situation (which is indeed dire), but he constantly seems to be on edge - people describe him as 'The Manic Doctor' and I think this is rather apt. It's like he's in danger of boiling over at any moment, and 'He's...like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun' is actually a pretty accurate description, because he comes across as burning - like he'd literally set stuff on fire if he looked at it for too long. (ETA: It's like he's burning too bright, and he knows it.) And he's so utterly rest-less. In the scene where Ten first meets Davros face-to-face, Impish Girl said: "Wouldn't it be fun if Matt Smith [she meant Eleven] came in? 'Oh hello Davros! Haven't seen you for a long time. How about a cup of tea?'" And really, the difference is striking - Eleven is so calm, so un-hurried, so sure that things will probably wait for him, whereas Ten is always frantically trying to catch up.
I'm generalising of course. But the pace is very different in S5, and it comes from the Doctor.
Anyway, the following insight came about during a discussion in a doctoreleven post, talking about what makes Eleven uniquely Eleven-y, which of course brought up many a comparison with Ten. (But without any bashing. Have I mentioned how much I adore that comm?) This particular thread started out comparing Ten and Eleven's *anger*, which of course ties in with Ten's control issues. A lot of his anger (see his confrontation with Harriet Jones) is because he wants people to obey him, and he thinks if they don't, bad stuff will happen. He is the ultimate arbitrar of right and wrong.
(Here I'm going to cut and paste from my original comment - you can almost see the light bulb starting to shine over my head. *g*):
But - I think there's a reason. Having destroyed his own species I think he needs to be right. Because if he can be wrong, then maybe he was wrong then... And where does that leave him? What if destroying the Timelords was the wrong call? He can't afford to be wrong, so ergo he must always be right.
Hmmm. I like this. And in this context 'The End of Time' in many ways gives him closure, forcing him to repeat his former action, confirming that he was right, and in the process maybe being able to let go of a lot of the issues...
What struck me particularly was how highly strung Ten is. Not just because of the situation (which is indeed dire), but he constantly seems to be on edge - people describe him as 'The Manic Doctor' and I think this is rather apt. It's like he's in danger of boiling over at any moment, and 'He's...like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun' is actually a pretty accurate description, because he comes across as burning - like he'd literally set stuff on fire if he looked at it for too long. (ETA: It's like he's burning too bright, and he knows it.) And he's so utterly rest-less. In the scene where Ten first meets Davros face-to-face, Impish Girl said: "Wouldn't it be fun if Matt Smith [she meant Eleven] came in? 'Oh hello Davros! Haven't seen you for a long time. How about a cup of tea?'" And really, the difference is striking - Eleven is so calm, so un-hurried, so sure that things will probably wait for him, whereas Ten is always frantically trying to catch up.
I'm generalising of course. But the pace is very different in S5, and it comes from the Doctor.
Anyway, the following insight came about during a discussion in a doctoreleven post, talking about what makes Eleven uniquely Eleven-y, which of course brought up many a comparison with Ten. (But without any bashing. Have I mentioned how much I adore that comm?) This particular thread started out comparing Ten and Eleven's *anger*, which of course ties in with Ten's control issues. A lot of his anger (see his confrontation with Harriet Jones) is because he wants people to obey him, and he thinks if they don't, bad stuff will happen. He is the ultimate arbitrar of right and wrong.
(Here I'm going to cut and paste from my original comment - you can almost see the light bulb starting to shine over my head. *g*):
But - I think there's a reason. Having destroyed his own species I think he needs to be right. Because if he can be wrong, then maybe he was wrong then... And where does that leave him? What if destroying the Timelords was the wrong call? He can't afford to be wrong, so ergo he must always be right.
Hmmm. I like this. And in this context 'The End of Time' in many ways gives him closure, forcing him to repeat his former action, confirming that he was right, and in the process maybe being able to let go of a lot of the issues...